On a long, low ridge in the small townland of Raystown, Co. Meath, west of what is now Ashbourne, people began burying their dead in an enclosed cemetery in the early fifth century AD. This place was to endure for at least 600 years as a large farming settlement. The building and
archaeology | excavation (sites) | geophysics
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Bronze hand-bell (w: 27.9 x h: 29.8x d: 20.3cm). Known by various names: the Bell of Armagh, Bell of Ballynaback/Ballinabeck (through confusion with another nearby graveyard) and Clog Ban/Beannighte 'blessed bell'. The inscription is arranged horizontally in three lines on the lo
inscriptions
Mixed Types
A rectangular cross-slab of local limestone (w: 0.38 x h: 0.82x d: 0.12m) bearing an incised, ringed-cross potent with ornamented rolls in each quarter on a roughly rectangular base. The inscription runs beneath the ring and across the shaft of the cross and reads: TOMAS AP(STAL)
inscriptions
Mixed Types
A large, rectangular cross-slab of limestone (w: 0.46 x h: 1.41x d: 0.12m) with a two line Latin cross, having circular expansions in the intersections and at the terminals. A three-line inscription, now almost illegible, is positioned across the lower two quadrants of the cross.
inscriptions
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A small, rectangular cross-slab, of limestone (w: 0.34 x h: 0.43x d: 0.06m) decorated with a Greek cross with expanded terminals set within a double circle. The inscription above the cross follows the curve of the circle and reads CETHERNẠ[CH]. Ceithernach ‘member or leader of a
inscriptions
Mixed Types
A large, roughly rectangular cross-inscribed pillar, presumably of local limestone (w: 0.49 x h: 1.34x d: 0.18m) bearing an incised two-line ringed Latin cross with a circular centre and roughly T-shaped terminals. Below this a second transom on the shaft ends with circular termi
inscriptions
Mixed Types
An inscribed stone (limestone, w: 0.14 x h: 1.18m) re-used as building material in the church known as Teampall Bhreacáin. The inscriptions, in a single line, contains the Roman numeral for ‘2’ and reads: OR(ÓIT) AR II CANOIN ‘A prayer on behalf of the two canons’.
inscriptions
Mixed Types
A subrectangular cross-slab of limestone (w: 0.33 x h: 0.89x d: 0.09m), bearing a broadly grooved Latin cross with a circular centre and semicircular terminals. The inscription is distributed across the four cantons horizontally in two lines. It contains the Roman numeral for ‘7’
inscriptions
Mixed Types
A large cross-slab, presumably of local limestone, w: 0.85 x h: 1.93m. This stone is lost but, based on the illustrations of Petrie (1878, Plate XIII), Higgins (1987, 368) describes `a rather elaborate cross of Latin form. The cross itself is ringed and has a three-line shaft and
inscriptions
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A black, clay ironstone nodule found inside the supposed tomb of Saint Breccán, approximately w: 0.76 x h: 0.76x d: 0.38cm, almost flat on the underside. A plain cross is carved on the upper side. The inscription is positioned on the stone in a single, circular line around the ed
inscriptions
Mixed Types
A fragment of a cross-slab, probably of local limestone (w: 0.41 x h: 0.50x d: 0.12m). It bears two incised lines, which are part of the shaft of the cross. The inscription runs across the shaft of the cross in the lower quadrants and reads: OR(ÓIT) AR MAINACH ‘A prayer on behalf
inscriptions
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A broken, roughly subrectangular, limestone cross-slab, w: 0.70 x h: 1.12x d: 0.14m. About half of it has been broken away, but the majority of the carved area remains. The stone bears a two-line Greek cross enclosed by a double ring. The terminals of this, which are wedge-shaped
inscriptions
Mixed Types